The first time I saw him it was one of those romance novel moments of heart-stopping, heart-racing attraction. I was going to sign up for fencing, something I’d always wanted to try since my childhood crush on Zorro. And there he was, across the room in his fencing whites, face seen only dimly through the screen of his mask, but visible enough for me to see how handsome he was. I remember noticing the profile of his nose, so perfect, so opposite from my own, in my eyes, oversized proboscis. It turned out that he was captain of the fencing team. It also turned out that he was scheduled to be my carpool ride on Wednesday mornings this semester. So, not only was he a swashbuckling hero and an upper classman, we attended the same college and lived in the same neighborhood.
From John Dufresne's Writing Exercises
